Is The Starry Night Public Domain? Exact File Rights

Short answer

Yes—MoMA’s 1889 The Starry Night has a supported public-domain record in the United States, United Kingdom and European Union.

This is not Starry Night Over the Rhône, and the file verdict applies only to the exact Google Art Project/Commons reproduction recorded below.

A work-level answer for MoMA’s 1889 Saint-Rémy painting, expressly excluding Starry Night Over the Rhône.

Artwork copyright

The checked work is MoMA 472.1941, painted at Saint-Rémy in June 1889—not the 1888 Arles painting Starry Night Over the Rhône.

Physical object

MoMA owns the oil on canvas. Its ownership, photography and visitor rules remain separate from copyright in Van Gogh’s composition.

Open object record ↗

Exact image file

This guide uses one named Google Art Project file on Commons. It does not grant permission for MoMA installation views, shop imagery or arbitrary copies found in search.

Work-level matrix

Jurisdiction checks

Not a worldwide claim

United Statessupported public-domain record: The exact Commons record marks this work as published before 1931 and public domain in the US; it is also identified as F612 in de la Faille’s illustrated 1928 catalogue raisonné. MoMA’s object record fixes the identity and date but is not used as the file licence.
United Kingdompublic-domain term: The standard literary, dramatic, musical and artistic-work term in CDPA 1988 §12 is life plus 70 years. Van Gogh died in 1890; on that standard calculation this work was public domain from 1 January 1961. Moral rights and non-copyright restrictions are separate.
European Unionpublic-domain term: Directive 2006/116/EC applies a standard life-plus-70 term, calculated from 1 January after the relevant event. Van Gogh died in 1890; on that standard calculation this work was public domain from 1 January 1961. National moral-rights rules remain separate.

Source file record

One exact file, not blanket permission

Open source record ↗

Upstream: Wikimedia Commons file sourced from Google Art Project; MoMA object 472.1941
Original SHA-1: b3e5f8291b4137ff50ba876c84a1f7248186104a
Fetched asset SHA-256: dbca2f16b195f6e83feb98d44c0d98eb0b39f560314efbedfedab9e45caa8a2f
GeMarkt derivative: /blog/art-history/artwork-rights-the-starry-night.webp
Derivative SHA-256: fe7d342e192bf075fe11896613b26755d94aba5c671bae2699ffa97b55ae6aae
Dimensions / bytes: 1800 × 1425 pixels · 901,340 bytes
Rights statement: Public Domain Mark; faithful two-dimensional reproduction
Transformation: Commons 1,920-pixel preview resized to 1,800 pixels wide and converted to WebP; no crop or colour edit.

Use guidance: Reuse this exact file from its Commons page. A MoMA download, a photograph of the gallery, or an edited night-sky detail needs a separate record.

Practical use

Reuse the recorded file in editorial or commercial work where the public-domain assessment applies.
Name the MoMA work precisely so the conclusion is not silently transferred to Starry Night Over the Rhône.
Re-check the source page and local law for a new file or a different market.

Evidence opened in this review

US Copyright Office: 17 U.S.C. §303 (law)
US Copyright Office: publication regulation (law)
UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 §12 (law)
UK IPO notice on digital images and contract terms (terms)
EU Directive 2006/116/EC (law)
EU DSM Directive Article 14 (law)
MoMA object 472.1941 (object)
Van Gogh Worldwide record F612 (publication)
Exact Commons file record (file)

General information, not legal advice. Re-check the exact source record, local law and any contract that applies where you use the file.

Which Starry Night this answer covers

This is the Museum of Modern Art’s The Starry Night, object 472.1941, painted at Saint-Rémy in June 1889. It is not Starry Night Over the Rhône, the September 1888 Arles painting now in the Musée d’Orsay. Search results and product titles often shorten both to “Starry Night”; a rights record cannot.

MoMA gives the checked canvas as 73.7 × 92.1 centimetres. The exact title, date, object number and institution are the minimum identity set for this guide. If any of those fields changes, stop and locate the other work’s record.

Why the US record is work-specific

Van Gogh’s death in 1890 puts his own economic copyright outside the ordinary life-plus-70 term in the UK and EU. The US analysis still needs publication evidence rather than a shortcut from the painting date. The exact Commons record states that this work was published before 1931 and is public domain in the US; the painting is also catalogued as F612 in Jacob Baart de la Faille’s illustrated 1928 catalogue raisonné.

MoMA’s collection page confirms the object, date and physical dimensions. It is not treated as the source-file licence. Keeping those functions separate prevents a museum’s authority over object facts from being mistaken for permission to reuse every image on its website.

Exact file and its limits

The selected reproduction is the Google Art Project file preserved on Wikimedia Commons. The generator verifies the original Commons SHA-1 before downloading a 1,920-pixel preview, then resizes to 1,800 pixels and converts to WebP with no crop or colour edit. A changed upstream revision fails the source step instead of quietly replacing the image.

This file record does not cover a photograph taken in MoMA’s gallery, a poster mock-up, an animated sky, or a detail copied from a different scan. Each is a new file-level question even though Van Gogh’s underlying composition is out of term.

A close look at the night

The village is held low and comparatively still. Above it, short strokes curl around stars and moon until light appears to move through the sky rather than sit on its surface. The cypress connects those zones: a dark flame that begins below the horizon and rises into the largest current of blue.

That contrast is easy to lose in reproductions that crush the dark tree or make every yellow equally bright. File provenance therefore matters to looking as well as law. This selected image keeps the whole composition and gives no restoration claim beyond the stated conversion.

What to do before reuse

Start from the linked Commons file page, not an image-search thumbnail. Save the title, MoMA object number, source-page URL, upstream revision and any local transformations. If you move to another file, repeat the check.

The Van Gogh artist guide gives broader term context without replacing this work-level record. The collection, product and wallpaper links above have distinct commercial or free-download purposes; none changes the evidence attached to this research file.

Is The Starry Night public domain? Exact work and file rights

The Starry Night: checked, with file-level limits